VATICAN - General Audience, with Aram I, Catholicos of Cilicia of the Armenians; Holy Father invites all to pray for the ecumenical path and mentions in his Catechesis: “Christian ethics is not born from a system of commandments, but rather is the consequence of our friendship with Christ.”

Vatican City (Agenzia Fides) - “This fraternal visit is a significant occasion for strengthening the bonds of unity already existing between us, as we journey towards that full communion which is both the goal set before all Christ's followers and a gift to be implored daily from the Lord.” With these words, the Holy Father Benedict XVI greeted the Catholicos of Cilicia of the Armenians, Aram I, present, at the beginning of the General Audience held on Wednesday, November 26.
Benedict XVI then asked those present to pray that the visit and meetings during these days “will mark a further step along the path towards full unity,” expressing his “particular gratitude” for the constant personal efforts made by Aram I in the area of ecumenism. The presence of the statue of Saint Gregory the Illuminator, founder of the Armenian Church, erected in front of Saint Peter's Basilica, “evokes the sufferings he endured in bringing the Armenian people to Christianity, but it also recalls the many martyrs and confessors of the faith whose witness bore rich fruit in the history of your people. Armenian culture and spirituality are pervaded by pride in this witness of their forefathers, who suffered with fidelity and courage in communion with the Lamb slain for the salvation of the world,” the Pope explained.
In his Catechesis with the pilgrims, the Holy Father Benedict XVI reflected on the preaching of Saint Paul on justification: “Saint Paul tells us: It is not our works, but our faith that makes us "just." This faith, nevertheless, is not a thought, opinion or idea. This faith is communion with Christ, which the Lord entrusts to us and that because of this, becomes life in conformity with him. Or in other words, faith, if it is true and real, becomes love, charity -- is expressed in charity.”
In his Letter to the Galatians, Saint Paul places an emphasis on the gratuitousness of justification not by our efforts, and, at the same time, he emphasizes as well the relationship between faith and charity, between faith and works: there are on one hand the 'works of the flesh,' which are fornication, impurity, debauchery, idolatry...all of which are contrary to the faith. On the other hand is the action of the Holy Spirit, which nourishes Christian life stirring up .love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.' These are the fruits of the Spirit that arise from faith. At the beginning of this list of virtues is cited ágape, love, and at the end, self-control.”
Thus, recalling his first Encyclical, “Deus caritas est,” Benedict XVI explained how “Believers know that in mutual love the love of God and of Christ is incarnated by means of the Spirit...Justified by the gift of faith in Christ, we are called to live in the love of Christ toward others, because it is by this criterion that we will be judged at the end of our existence. In the First Letter to the Corinthians, St. Paul becomes expansive with his famous praise of love. It is the so-called hymn to charity...Christian love is so demanding because it springs from the total love of Christ for us: this love that demands from us, welcomes us, embraces us, sustains us, even torments us, because it obliges us to live no longer for ourselves, closed in on our egoism, but for 'him who has died and risen for us.' The love of Christ makes us be in him this new creature, who enters to form part of his mystical body that is the Church.”
Over the course of Christian history, oftentimes there has been an unfounded contra-position observed between the theology of Paul and James: “while Paul concerns himself above all with demonstrating that faith in Christ is necessary and sufficient, James highlights the consequent relationship between faith and works (cf. James 2:2-4). Therefore, for Paul and for James, faith operative in love witnesses to the gratuitous gift of justification in Christ. Salvation, received in Christ, needs to be protected and witnessed...Often we tend to fall into the same misunderstandings that have characterized the community of Corinth: Those Christians thought that, having been gratuitously justified in Christ by faith, 'everything was licit.' And they thought, and often it seems that the Christians of today think, that it is licit to create divisions in the Church, the body of Christ, to celebrate the Eucharist without concerning oneself with the brothers who are most needy, to aspire to the best charisms without realizing that they are members of each other, etc. The consequences of a faith that is not incarnated in love are disastrous, because it is reduced to a most dangerous abuse and subjectivism for us and for our brothers.”
Thus, following Saint Paul, we should renew our awareness of the fact that, precisely because we have been justified in Christ, we should glorify God in our bodies and with the whole of our existence. “To what would be reduced a liturgy directed only to the Lord but that doesn't become, at the same time, service of the brethren, a faith that is not expressed in charity?” the Pope asked, later recalling how the Apostle often puts his communities before the Final Judgment, which will be according to love, and “this thought on the Final Judgment should illumine us each day of our life.”
The Pope concluded his Catechesis, emphasizing that the ethics proposed by Paul are also valid for us today, because “Christian ethics is not born from a system of commandments, but rather is the consequence of our friendship with Christ. This friendship influences life: If it is true, it incarnates and fulfills itself in love for neighbor.” He then said that we should let ourselves be overtaken by the reconciliation that God has given us in Christ, by God's 'crazy' love for us: No one and nothing could ever separate us from his love.” (SL) (Agenzia Fides 27/11/2008)